Quickly selecting a background in Photoshop. Improved automatic selection. Magic wand and quick selection
Due to numerous requests, I am doing a lesson on techniques for isolating complex objects from the background.
Look at this image:
What's the easiest way to highlight this image? Here the usual Lasso will definitely not work.
You can dig deeper Polygonal Lasso, but it will take you a lot of time, it is more suitable for selecting rectangular objects (table, cube, book).
1 way:
The magnetic lasso in this case will do a good job, since the picture has a high level of contrast, but still not ideal.
If you don’t stop yourself and add additional points on sharp protrusions and corners, the tool will simply skip them. The result is a two.
The main disadvantage with the Lasso tool is that you can't move away from the path until you close it.
Method 2:
A good alternative would be the Pen tool. When working with it, you can constantly break away: switch to other tools, work with other documents, go have tea, etc.
Another advantage is that the resulting outline can be adjusted before turning it into a selection.
First we highlighted roughly:
Then we put an additional point in the middle of the straight section:
Hold Ctrl and it will turn into a white arrow, which allows you to drag the point.
When you close the last point, a solid outline will appear. To get a selection, you need to right-click and select Make Selection.
There you will be asked about shading. If you want the edges of the selected object to soften slightly, then add 1 - 2 px.
If you are interested in the Pen tool, I advise you to read this.
3 way:
For this image, a super quick way to select would be to use Magic wand.
The main thing is to guess with the "Tolerance" parameter. For example, I set it to 45 and clicked once on the background. Almost everything stood out for me.
Then I held Shift and clicked on the light green areas. Ready!
All that remains is to press Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection.
4 way:
How else can you make a selection?
With a quick mask!
Good day to everyone, my dear friends and readers! How are you feeling? I hope everything is OK. And with such a good mood, I would like to continue our Photoshop lessons. Today I would like to talk about a very important action in Adobe Photoshop, namely selecting objects, parts of an image, etc.
Why do we need to select objects at all? For different purposes. For example, you want to cut out a specific part of one image and transfer it to another. Or maybe you want to save a certain part of the image from the whole. Or you just want to work (change, process, apply filters, add brightness, sharpening or other effects, etc.) with a separate part of the image.
Today I want to briefly tell you about different methods of highlighting in Photoshop, so that you know what they are and for which cases which one is best suited. Go!
For example, if you want to turn something rectangular or square, then it is best to take a tool "Rectangular selection". And if you want to highlight something oval or round, then you are welcome to use "Oval selection".
Lasso
Regular lasso
The instrument is completely in the power of your hand, i.e. As you move your hand, the selection will be drawn. If your hand shakes, your selection line will shake. Is the least useful tool in this group.
Straight-line lasso
This type of lasso is most suitable for selecting objects consisting of straight lines. It is not necessary that the corners be right, even if it is a fence. It all comes down to the fact that you are constantly setting checkpoints, thanks to which your current progress will not be lost if you “mess up”. As a result, the selection is smooth.
But it is not necessary to use it for smooth images. With it, you can even select people and rounded objects.
Magnetic lasso
This is just a great looking lasso. It is great for objects with sharp edges or for objects that differ in brightness and color from the surrounding background.
The principle of its operation is such that you just need to place the first selection point on the edge of the selected object, and then you simply move the mouse along the area that you want to select. In this case, you don’t need to clamp anything and you don’t have to worry about the fact that you won’t follow the contour clearly, even if your hands shake.
The tool itself is magnetized to the edge of the object (hence its name). The main thing is just not to move too far from this edge, otherwise the lasso will be able to magnetize to the other edge. And the tool is just awesome.
Quick selection
Another group for selecting objects, the essence of which is to select objects using a couple of clicks.
Magic wand
Tool "Magic wand" allows you to select the desired object in 1 click. The main thing is to set the tolerance level correctly. And of course, you need the edges of the object to be clearly separated from the background, that is, to contrast with it.
Quick selection
Tool "Quick Selection" is a kind of magic wand, but unlike it, we don’t just select some area by pressing a button, but we can say sketch it with the mouse button held down (it’s not for nothing that the tool takes the shape of a brush).
But as in the case of the magnetic lasso and the magic wand, the selected object must contrast with the general background at least somehow.
Quick mask
It has proven itself excellent among Photoshoppers. The essence of this tool is that you paint over the desired object or background around this object. After this deactivation of the mode, a dotted line appears along the edges of the shaded area, i.e. the selection itself.
This mode is very convenient to use when working with any type of image, even if they do not contrast with the general background. The main thing is just to paint well in the right places.
Feather
Completes our list today. The principle of its operation is somewhat similar to the straight lasso, only unlike the latter, the lines can be adjusted and rounded.
Another undoubted advantage is that the use of this tool can be interrupted for a while without compromising progress. That is, if you have already started selecting an object with a pen, then you can easily switch to another tool, but your current selection will not go anywhere and you can continue it at any time.
Do you see how many ways the wonderful Adobe Photoshop program has for selecting objects? This once again shows how powerful and convenient this graphic editor is. Each instrument is built differently, but the essence remains the same. And each person can use a certain tool when working to select certain objects or areas of the image.
And we will consider each of these tools separately and in detail so that you can choose the most interesting one for yourself. Or maybe you already have a favorite instrument? Write in the comments which one is closest to your heart).
Well, in general, you can look at detailed lessons on each tool, and on working with Photoshop in general, in this wonderful video course. The lessons are simply amazing and are told in simple and understandable language for any level of user. Everything is “chewed” and shown with real examples. After watching this course, you will already have a very good understanding of Photoshop. Highly recommend.
Well, I’m finishing our review lesson for today. I hope that it has become clear to you which method of selecting images is best suited for what. By the way, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog updates, then you definitely won’t miss anything interesting and will be aware of the most important points. See you in other articles. Bye bye!
Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.
How to select and copy selected image, text, picture, background, layer, color, object and area in Photoshop.
Selection is the most common operation that is performed very often in Adobe Photoshop. Without a selection, you cannot copy an object. Selection allows you to change a specific area of an image. This operation is also needed in many other cases. This lesson will focus specifically on selection. You will learn how to select a piece of a picture, text, color and other elements.
How to select an area in Photoshop?
This lesson will try to answer your question of how to select an area in Photoshop, and the first part of the lesson will be devoted to this simple action. To begin with, you should know that Adobe Photoshop is replete with tools designed to select certain objects. The simplest one is the “Magic Wand”. It will allow you to select in one click any shape consisting of one color.
An equally simple tool is called “Quick Selection”. It serves to highlight slightly more complex figures. When activating it, you need to click on the object with the left mouse button until the dotted line runs clearly along its contour. If an extraneous area is accidentally selected, click on it while holding down the Alt key.
How to highlight in Photoshop?
There are other ways to make selections in Photoshop—the graphic editor has three tools included in the “Lasso” group. The first one is designed to highlight any area you select. In this case, you must circle this area yourself, as if with a pencil. Most often it is impossible to act exactly, so this tool is used extremely rarely. Usually, owners of graphics tablets work with the help of Lasso.
The other two tools from this group are already used much more often. The Straight Line Lasso also allows you to select any area of the image. But this time the selected area will be in the form of an even polygon. However, the third tool is even more popular. We are talking about the “Magnetic Lasso”. It is easy for them to highlight contrasting objects. In this case, the selection is made along their contour. You just need to move the mouse cursor along the contour, the selection line will automatically be magnetized to it. When the last marker connects with the first, a dotted line will run along the contour, which indicates the correct selection.
How to select an object in Photoshop?
Now you understand how to select an object in Photoshop. But sometimes such complex actions are not required. Sometimes you just need to select a rectangular area of the image. A separate group of tools is used for this. But first, let's imagine that we need to select the entire image. To accomplish this, you could use the Rectangular Marquee tool and drag your mouse from one corner of the image to the other. However, this is too long. There is a much faster way to select the entire image. Just follow the path “Selection>All” or press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A. 
The aforementioned Rectangular Marquee tool allows you to select a part of an image. If you hold down the Shift key while creating a selection, the area will be square. The same can be said for the Oval Marquee tool. Holding down the Shift key will allow you to get a circle instead of an oval.
Such simple selection methods are needed not only for subsequent copying of the resulting area. We must not forget that using these tools you can draw. Create a circle using a selection. Then use the Fill Tool and paint the selected area with some bright color. A real circle appeared in the picture! This method of creating figures is often used by webmasters creating a new website design.
How to select a picture in Photoshop?
For the most part, you've already figured out how to select an image in Photoshop, but there are a couple more important points to keep in mind. You may encounter problems when working with Magnetic Lasso. If the photo was taken using a simple smartphone or point-and-shoot camera, the contrast will be far from ideal. As a result, the selection will not go very smoothly. But at any time you can refine the edges of the selection.
To do this, use the “Refine Edge” button. It can be found at the top of the program's working window when any tool from the selection group is active. Clicking the button causes a dialog box to appear. In it, you immediately need to check the box next to the “Smart radius” item. Below is a slider with which you can adjust the size of this radius. As a result, you can achieve the most accurate selection. And the “Edge Settings” section will allow you to create feathering and smoothing of the selected area. All changes are immediately visible on the selected object, which is placed on a black background while working with the dialog box. You can change this background using the “View” item at the top of the dialog box.
If you do not perform any further actions in the provided window, then after clicking the “OK” button you will return to the selection process. But pay attention to the bottom of the Refine Edge window. There is an item “Output to”. It allows you to move a selection to a new layer or even create a layer mask.
How to copy selection in Photoshop?
If you have selected an object, then the question arises: how to copy the selection in Photoshop - this operation is performed very simply. You just need to press the key combination Ctrl+C. Or go to “Edit>Copy”. 
Then all that remains is to paste the selected area of the picture onto another image. To do this, you first need to open another image using Photoshop. When this is done, go to “Edit>Insert”. Or press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V. Then right-click on the image that appears. From the context menu, select Free Transform. This will allow you to resize the inserted image, rotate it and move it. Corner handles are used to change sizes. Do not forget to hold down the Shift key, which will allow you to maintain the proportions of the image.
How to select an image in Photoshop?
Beginner users are not only faced with the question of how to select an image in Photoshop, but sometimes a person thinks about what additional possibilities opens up by selecting an object along its contour?
Talking about what you can do after selection is not the main goal of this lesson. But some Photoshop functions are still worth mentioning. After creating a selection, try going to “Edit>Stroke”. This way you will trace the object along its outline. In this case, you can select the position of the stroke, its thickness, transparency and color. 
This way you can quickly fill the selection area with some color. To do this, use the “Edit>Fill” path or the Shift+F5 key combination. At the same time, you will be offered to fill the space not only with one color, but also with some kind of pattern. You can also lower the opacity to zero. This will make the selected area completely transparent. Please note that the above operations are best performed on a new layer. This will allow you to keep the original image intact and get rid of changes at any time. 
How to select a background in Photoshop?
A very interesting question is how to select the background in Photoshop; many people think that this is an overly complicated operation. After all, the object can be small, and the background takes up the lion's share of the space. What to do?
And everything is really simple. To begin, select the object along its outline. In our case, the highlighted one is the hand with commemorative 10-ruble coins. When a dotted line runs across the object, go to “Select>Invert”. That's it, now everything will be selected except the object itself. 
How to select text in Photoshop?
Even novice users regularly ask themselves the question of how to select text in Photoshop, and the answer to this question varies depending on what exactly is meant by the word “selection.” Let's try to understand this situation.
Write a word in Photoshop using the Horizontal Text tool. In our case, it will be the inscription “Commemorative coins”. To highlight text, hover over the last letter. Then hold down the left mouse button and move the cursor to the first letter. In a word, Adobe Photoshop in this regard is no different from any text editor. When text is selected, you can change the font size, font type, and many other functions. 
But sometimes regular text selection is required, as was the case with other objects. How to achieve it? This is a very interesting question. A novice user would select the Quick Selection tool and click on the letters. But this would take a long time. Adobe Photoshop would not be the most popular graphics editor if it were not able to automate this process.
Take a look at the Layers panel. In it you will see a layer with written text. Left-click on this layer's thumbnail (the big "T"). While doing this, hold down the Ctrl key. You will immediately see the changes that have occurred in the picture. The text will instantly be highlighted. All that remains is to carry out the intended actions with it. For example, copy or apply some filter to the selected area.
How to select a layer in Photoshop?
But in reality, you don’t always need to select a particular object to copy it. Sometimes it is enough to know how to select a layer in Photoshop, and the fact is that some objects can be brought into the image by you from the outside. Then they will exist as a separate layer. Most often, various shapes are created in the form of separate layers. Then why bother with selecting similar objects to copy them to another picture? You can simply create a copy of the layer.
First, let's consider a situation where a copy of a layer is required in the current image. In this case, there are three options. The first is to right-click on the layer. A context menu will immediately pop up, in which you need to select the “Duplicate layer” item. The second method is simpler. You need to select the layer and press the key combination Ctrl+J. A copy will appear instantly. Finally, the third method is the most difficult. The layer must be grabbed with the mouse by holding down the left mouse button, and then moved to the button for creating a new layer. It is located at the bottom of the panel.
If you want to copy a layer and paste it on another image, then everything is also very simple. We have already talked about this action in one of the previous lessons. Open a new image (or create one from scratch). Go back to the previous picture. Expand the Layers panel. Grab the desired layer with your mouse, then drag it directly onto the new image. Nothing complicated. Then all that remains is to adjust the size of the inserted image. To do this, use the “Free Transform” mode, which was already discussed at the beginning of this lesson.
How to highlight a color in Photoshop?
Above we talked about highlighting certain areas. But sometimes you need to select pixels of the same color or similar shade. Sometimes selecting an object this way is much easier than using Magnetic Lasso or Quick Selection. Since selecting a color in Photoshop, then we will try to describe all the actions in as much detail as possible.
A separate lesson could be devoted to this operation. But it’s still worth taking a brief look at this function right now. Usually a certain color range is highlighted. This is done by going to “Selection>Color Range”. A dialog box will pop up. The mouse cursor will immediately turn into a pipette. This will allow you to choose one color or another in the photo. 
In the dialog box, a range of color shades is selected. For example, you highlight a red telephone booth. It consists of many red shades. Some areas of the kennel may even be pink. Therefore, the spread needs to be larger. Only after this the selection will be correct.
Once the area with similar color tones is highlighted, you can click OK. Later, you can use the Fill tool to replace one color with another. For example, the above phone booth can be painted white so easily.
This concludes our lesson. Today you learned a lot about different ways to select objects in Photoshop. Using these actions, you can perform more precise operations to change certain parts of the picture. Keep checking out our lessons, it will help you learn a lot!
One of the main problems when creating a photo montage is certainly the high-quality selection of an object in one photograph and transferring it to another image. And if there are objects containing hair or animal fur, then the problem is even greater, since not all Photoshop users know how to correctly select such an object.
In this lesson on working with photoshop We will show you a simple way to separate an object from a background that has an almost uniform background with slight color transitions. It would seem nothing complicated, you can apply " Magic wand"(W) or " Quick selection" (W), but the task is complicated by the fact that the color of the cut out object very much matches the background color and, as you understand, this is the problem of selecting an object in the image. The technique outlined in this lesson, of course, does not claim to be universal , but in some cases it can help you a lot. how to select an object in photoshop?
Similar publications:
- Selections in Photoshop
- lesson "How to change the background in Photoshop"
Let's open the original image. How easy it is to notice a girl's hair is close in color to the background color. What is the best way to highlight them?
Let's create a duplicate layer - Ctrl+J.
Now our task is to select the girl along the contour. Let's go to "".
In the window of the same name, first of all, click on the middle icon depicting an eyedropper with a plus sign (make it active). Then we click the background around the girl right in the color range preview window, and then move the “Scatter” slider in one direction or another so that the result is a white background and a “black” girl. This, of course, is ideal; regardless of the color range settings, you will be left with black spots on white and vice versa, white spots on black. You can see my result in the screenshot below. Click "Ok".
The selection we created in the previous step is loaded. As you can see, it is far from ideal.
In the "Layers" palette, click on the third icon from the left and a layer mask will be loaded onto the top layer in accordance with the selection created earlier.
To see the layer mask itself directly, we must hold down the Alt key and click on the thumbnail of the mask itself. We will only work with her.
Our task is to make the background absolutely white, and the silhouette of the girl absolutely black. I select the "Brush" tool (B), the foreground color is white, the default brush settings and I paint over the black spots on the background around the girl (I highlighted them in yellow). Please note that I am not moving close to the girl's outline; we will process these places in a different way.
After painting the background with white, set the brush blending mode to “Overlay” and “walk” the brush along the contour of the girl. At the same time, you will notice that the contour will be leveled, the black spots on the white background located next to the contour will disappear, and the black color of the girl herself will practically not suffer.
This is what I got after working with a brush. You see that the background around the girl has become white and the outline (from the background side) has become even.
Again, change the blending mode of the brush to “Normal”, but set the foreground color to black. We outline the girl’s figure in black, but do not get close to her contours.
As you probably already guessed, the next step is to switch the brush blending mode to “Overlay” and work with the brush inside the girl, along her contour. Thus, we did what we set out to do - create a clear black and white mask.
Now hold down the Alt key and click on the layer mask (a color image of the girl will appear), then hold down the Ctrl key and click on the same mask again (load the selection) and invert the selection - Shift+Ctrl+I.
Left-click on the thumbnail of the top layer (with the mask), i.e. Make the layer itself active, not the mask. Press the key combination Ctrl+J - the selection will be copied to a new layer.
He is in the fourth group along with. They are similar in their operating principle, so Photoshop developers combined them together.
So, what kind of tool is this and how to work with it - let's figure it out one by one.
Why do you need Quick Selection?
By working with the tool like a brush, you can select complex areas of the image. It analyzes the pixels you move your mouse over and then helps speed up your work by highlighting areas of the image that contain similar pixels.
Thus, Quick selection It’s convenient to use when the image is contrasty, that is, a sharp transition between pixel colors is noticeable.
How to use
Let's look at a specific example. Let's say the task is to select the entire background of an image.
Step 1
First I make one click anywhere with a background. Photoshop defaults to New selection(these modes are shown in ), so it will select a small brush-sized area for now.
Step 2
The second click will be a little further from the original location. Photoshop looked at the pixels of your first click, and then the pixels of your second click, compared them, and looked at what pixels were around. Having quickly analyzed all this, he himself selects an area that contains exactly the same pixels.
The mode automatically changed to . So we keep clicking on new areas of the background.
Step 3
I'll make the third click much to the right. As a result, Photoshop immediately showed me “marching ants” around most of the image. Please note that nothing else stands out except the background.
Look, three clicks, and almost half of the background is already selected. Isn't this proof that the instrument bears the defining word for a reason? "Fast"?
If you are not satisfied with the appearance of the tool pointer, you can change it to another standard one. To do this, press the Caps Lock key.
Options panel
The general operating principle should now be clear. Now let's move on to the parameters panel, where there are settings that make fundamental changes. Here's what it looks like:
The meaning of all tool parameters from left to right:
New selection
Tool automatically installed to create a new selected area, which is very convenient, since the whole point is to create it.
Add to selection
Photoshop automatically switches to this mode when you click the mouse or make the first brush stroke. Now the program will add any additional areas that you click on.
Naturally, you can switch to this mode manually.
It is better to add new selection areas with single mouse clicks. In such cases, if something doesn’t work out, you can press Ctrl+Z to .
In addition to single clicks, you can hold down the left mouse button and move over areas of the image.
Subtract from a selection
Photoshop may select more than is actually necessary. If this problem occurs, select this mode and then brush over the area you don't want to eliminate it.
To get the most out of the tool, you'll likely have to add and subtract a lot to the highlighted areas. Keyboard shortcuts can help speed up this process.
To enter Add mode, press and hold the Shift key.
To switch to mode Subtract area press and hold the Alt key.
Brush options
Use a larger brush for larger highlights and a smaller brush for smaller or hard-to-reach areas. Click on the small triangle next to the brush size to bring up the menu.
In this menu you can also adjust the brush hardness, spacing and angle.
For best results, use a stiff-bristled brush to create crisp edges (instead of the slightly translucent edges that appear when painting with a soft-bristled brush).
Sample from all layers
Initially this setting is disabled. This means that Photoshop only takes into account the pixels of the active layer. If you check this box, the program will use the entire document and capture all similar pixels, regardless of what layer they are on.
Strengthen automatically
Because the tool Quick selection creates selected areas very quickly, their edges can end up looking rough and imperfect. To do this more thoroughly, check this box. The function will make the edges smoother, but if you are working with a very large file, it will take a very long time to process.
Refine edge
I have written about this team more than once. Therefore, I immediately invite you to .
If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!
